When you should subcontract?

Dear Consultant Journal:

I’ve been running my consulting business for a few years now. I have established a network and I get a lot of leads. And sometimes I’m working on project teams where I know that, if I was in the lead, I could be managing some of the vendors. How do you know when you should start subcontracting?

- A.L.

Dear A.L.:

Ultimately, it’s up to you and the amount of measured risk you’re willing to take. But learning to subcontract can be very rewarding. For example, the founder of this site, Andrea Coutu, grew her freelance writing business into a strategic management consulting firm, which means she doesn’t have to be there 24/7 to be making money. The great thing about involving other people is that you don’t have to do EVERYTHING yourself, you don’t have to know everything and you don’t have to be be working on that project to be making money from it. It’s unfortunate that many freelancers and consultants feel compelled to do all the work themselves and then end up working MORE than they ever wanted to. If you start subcontracting, you might find that "risk" gives you more control!